Spring Training Pre Game Day 3

Getting out of the car at 9am, my wife was looking down when she heard a voice.  Not just any voice, but the Dodger voice.  She said, hey that sounds like Vin Scully.  And looking up, there he was, getting out of his car. There was a golf cart waiting to take him inside.  My wife was about to snap some pictures of him and in unison with mama Cora, say "Good Morning, Mr Scully".  It sounded like a classroom of kids when the school teacher walks into a room.  Of course, Vin said "Good Morning" right back.  That right there was the highlight of the day - and it was only 9 am.

This last day was a lot warmer and a lot less crowded, being the weekday.  Now that I knew what the schedule was like, I was able to meet some of the players and get some autographs.  One guy was yelling for Kershaw to sign his jersey.  He yelled out "Clayton, I'll give you 20 bucks if you sign my jersey!"  Kershaw went over to him, took the twenty dollars and signed his jersey.  Then he turn around to the other side and gave the twenty dollars to a little girl.  It was hilarious.   

OMG, its Vin. 

Made our day.

Good Morning Mr. Scully!

I think JP Howell going through some drills.

Ronald Bellisario

Brandon League going through the drill.

Matt Magill signing autographs.  He pitched the day before and was really sharp.

League signing autographs.  Does he or Sellers have more tattoos?

Ted Lilly walking by.

Carl Crawford signing autographs. Dont injury that wrist doing so! 

Mark McGwire signs a lot of stuff.

Up close with a bundled up Mark McGwire.

Davy Lopes

Don Mattingly getting to work.  Didn't stop before practice, but put his hands out to high five people as he ran by.  However, after practice he signed a lot and was really nice. 

Manny Mota and his bike.  He says to drop stuff in his basket and he will sign it when he gets back.  Pretty funny.

Tommy Lasorda set up a table to sign autographs. 

Mota returning with the signed goods in the basket.

JP Howell.

Clayton Kershaw getting mobbed.

Pitchers & Catchers Report Today!

photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

Game 70 Thread: June 21 @ A's, 12:30p

Clayton Kershaw (5-3, 2.86) vs. Travis Blackley (1-2, 4.60).

Here it is, Clayton: your chance to salvage one in Oakland and even out the Dodgers' interleague record, which stands at 5-6. The Dodgers head to Anaheim next for another three with the Angels, so a little momentum would be nice, no?

Speaking of the A's, this blew my mind: according to Ken Gurnick, Rickey Henderson "has no official role with the A's but suits up and hangs out as he chooses." Didn't the Dodgers run into this issue with Manny Mota? Anyway, I love that Rickey loves the game so much and/or has nothing better to do.

Vin Scully, on Big Bats

Roberto Clemente, Matty Alou, Willie Stargell and Manny Mota.

Vin Scully, from last night's game:

Before the game, I was talking to Ryan Braun, along with coach John Shelby, about Braun's bat. And it caught my eye, sitting up here. It seemed to be a longer bat than usual used by other players.

A throw to first and Morgan back on the bag.

And so I asked Ryan, Just how long is your bat? And he said, Thirty-five inches. Which is a little bit longer than the average. The average bat's thirty-four, maybe a rare thirty-four and a half.

But I knew I had seen bigger bats.

The first pitch is swung on, hit in the air to right field. Ethier going back to the bullpen gate, at the box seat, it is gone! A long bat and a long home run the other way, and just like that, the Brewers lead, two to nothing.

Ryan Braun, the MVP last year, hits his fourteenth home run. It gives him thirty-six runs batted in, as he takes young Eovaldi to right field.

Anyway, in talking about bats, I decided I know Matty Alou from years ago had a long bat. He played with the Pirates. So I called Manny Mota — as we watch the home run go out on replay — and Manny said, Oh, yes. He said, We had several guys on the club, thirty-seven-inch bats.

The first pitch is swung on by Ramirez, popped up on the right side. Loney will back off and let De Jesus make the catch, and we have two down.

So anyway, in talking to Manny Mota, we found out that Roberto Clemente used the thirty-seven-inch bat. So did Manny Sanguillen, the catcher, Matty Alou, Jose Pagan.

But what's really interesting, in talking about bats: Manny Mota said, One time we were going up against Bob Gibson, who was a flamethrower. And would you believe, Matty Alou, who was the smallest of the three Alous, had a thirty-seven-inch, forty-ounce bat. And he used it against Bob Gibson.

Anyway, that's the story on bats. Here's Taylor Green, hitting two twenty-two....

A Taste of Interleague

Mickey Hatcher and Garret Anderson reminisce about 2002.

Jose Mota and his dad Manny.

The duties of a backup catcher are many.

photos by Juan Ocampo/Dodgers

Congratulations to the Mota Family

From "Motas get scouts' honor" by Kevin Baxter at the LA Times:

Few couples have given more to professional baseball than Manny and Margarita Mota.

And we're not talking simply about Manny's 20-year playing career, in which he made an All-Star team and broke the record for most pinch-hits. Nor are we talking solely about Mota's 30 seasons as a Dodgers coach, the longest tenure of any coach since the team moved to Los Angeles.

If anything, that was just the start.

Because the Motas have also given five of their six sons to the game, sending two to the major leagues. And three of them are still in baseball -- Jose as a broadcaster with the Angels, Tony as a Dodgers' hitting instructor in the Dominican Summer League and Andy as an agent with the Los Angeles-based firm that represents the likes of Hanley Ramirez, Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra and Hideki Matsui.

It's a track record that will be recognized Saturday night when the Motas are honored as baseball's family of the year during the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation's seventh annual awards gala at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.

Take that, Alous!

Onion Targets Manny

(Click on picture for full "article.")

The Burden of Manny Mota

I had no idea about this. Then again, neither did Jon Weisman, so I don't feel so bad. From "Foul balls are a scary part of baseball" by Kevin Baxter at the LA Times:

It happened more than 38 years ago, yet Manny Mota still can't bring himself to talk about it.

"It's very difficult," the Dodgers coach and former All-Star outfielder said. "It brings up bad memories."

"It" was a foul ball Mota lined into the seats down the first base line at Dodger Stadium during the third inning of an otherwise uneventful mid-May game against the San Francisco Giants in 1970. But what made this foul ball different from the thousands of others Mota hit into the stands during his 20-year big league career was that it hit a 14-year-old boy in the head, just above his left ear.

Five days later, the boy was dead.

"I felt guilty because I hit the foul ball," Mota said quietly in Spanish. "And a young boy lost his life."

Mota is the longest-tenured coach in Dodger history, having spent 29 years with the organization. And this may be a case where a job is more than just a job. After the tragedy, Mota could have left the team and the sport behind to try to escape his guilt. Instead he stayed—and ended up staying much longer than most. Is this career longevity a kind of penance, or protection, or both? (Or maybe it's just a job, lest I get too carried away.)

We'll never know why Manny Mota stuck around, but I'm glad he did. I also know from now on whenever I hear his name, I'll think beyond all the pinch hits to a man on the field and a family off it changed by the game of baseball in a way fans could never fathom.

To Hell with Manny Mota's Civil Rights, Says MLB

Draconian regulations from MLB will keep Dodger coaching staff fixture Manny Mota out of the Dodger dugout and off the Dodger buses:

Manny Mota has spent 37 of the last 38 seasons in a Dodgers uniform, but he won't be in one Monday when the team opens the season in Milwaukee.

As part of a more stringent enforcement of a long-standing rule, baseball is limiting teams to six uniformed coaches during games, leaving no place for Mota, the longest-tenured coach since the franchise moved to California.

"Rules are rules,'' he said. "I have to follow the rules. And that's that."

Mota will be permitted in the clubhouse and on the field before home games but he will no longer travel with the team.

Sure, Dusty Baker is allowed to have his kids play grab-ass all over the playing field during the playoffs, but Manny Mota can't get in the door. Next they'll make him pay $15 for parking and have him park near the gate in which he entered.